April 5: “Fallen Star: Finding Home” Film Reveals the Making of Do Ho Suh Sculpture

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“Fallen Star,” by artist Do Ho Suh, opened in 2012 as part of UC San Diego’s Stuart Collection, an ongoing program of commissioned, site-specific sculptures. Photo by Philipp Scholz Rittermann

On Tuesday, April 5, the campus and local community are invited to attend the free premiere of “Fallen Star: Finding Home,” a 50-minute film by artist Do Ho Suh. The documentary tells the behind-the-scenes story of the planning, engineering and installation of “Fallen Star,” a house precariously perched on the edge of a seven-story building at the University of California, San Diego. The public artwork became the 18^th addition to the campus’s Stuart Collection—an ongoing program of commissioned, site-specific sculptures—in 2012.

Except for the chandelier hanging straight from the ceiling (thanks to gravity), there isn’t a single plumb line to the house, often disorienting visitors. Photo by Philipp Scholz Rittermann

Two public screenings will be held at 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. at Atkinson Auditorium at Calit2 on the UC San Diego campus. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. The artist will be present for the premiere of the film, which was directed by Vera Brunner-Sung and Valerie Stadler. The documentary will shed light on why so many people supported such an improbable idea, and how the unique project came to fruition.

At 15 by 18 feet, the “Fallen Star” structure is a three-quarter-sized version of a small house based on architectural styles seen in Providence, Rhode Island. Built during the fall of 2011, it was gently hoisted 100 feet in the air and permanently attached to Jacobs Hall at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

The sculpture consists of the house—cantilevered at an angle from the corner of the building and integrated with a structural concrete slab—and a rooftop garden. An engineering feat, the house is built to withstand 100-mph winds and boasts an 18-inch-thick foundation.

When Suh first proposed the ambitious project to UC San Diego’s Stuart Collection, he “never thought it would be realized.” Today, the work has become a beloved landmark at the university. It is hard to miss—it can be seen from multiple vantage points on campus and off.

“Fallen Star” is open to the public on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visitors are invited to explore the vertigo-inducing interior space, which is intended to prompt thoughts about displacement and the notion of “home.” For more information about the collection or the film premiere, visit stuartcollection or call (858) 534-2117.

“Fallen Star” was built during the fall of 2011, and on Nov. 15, was gently hoisted 100 feet and attached to Jacobs Hall. Photo by Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego Publications

About Do Ho Suh

Do Huh Suh was born in Korea and attended Seoul National University before going on to earn a BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA in sculpture from Yale University. Today he lives and works in New York, London and Seoul. His works are part of museum collections around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; the Tate Modern, London, UK, Artsonje Center, Seoul, Korea; and the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan. Currently he has a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.

About the Stuart Collection at UC San Diego

The Stuart Collection commissions outdoor, site-specific artworks for UC San Diego’s 1,200-acre campus. The innovative collection is unusual in that the entire campus may be considered as sites for the artworks, university buildings included. Major works for the Stuart Collection have been completed by Terry Allen, Michael Asher, John Baldessari, Niki de Saint Phalle, Jackie Ferrara, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Richard Fleischner, Tim Hawkinson, Jenny Holzer, Robert Irwin, Barbara Kruger, Elizabeth Murray, Bruce Nauman, Nam June Paik, Alexis Smith, Kiki Smith, Do Ho Suh and William Wegman.